Improvement in side bars for vehicles



F. l. FLOWERS.

Side-Bars for Vehicles.

No. 142,011 PatentdAugust19,1873.

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FRANCIS I. FLOWERS, OF TARRYTOWN NEW YORK.

. IMPROVEMENT IN SIDE BARS FOR VEHICLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 142,011, dated August19, 1873; application filed December 16, 1872.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS I. FLOWERS, of Tarrytown, in the county ofWestchester and State of New York, have invented certain new. and usefulImprovements in Side Bars for Carriages; and do hereby declare that thefollowing is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, referencebeing had to theaccompanying drawing making a part of thisspecification, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of a carriagecontaining my improvement. Fig. 2 is a vertical longitudinal section ofsaid bar upon a central line, Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the woodenportion of said bar detached, and Fig. 4 is a like view of the metalportion of the same.

Letters of like name and parts in each of the figures.

The design of my invention is to produce a side bar which shall possessall the elasticity of steel andthe toughness of wood, and shall retainits shape or set while in use} and to this end said invention consists,as a new article of manufacture, in a sidebar, constructed substantiallyas and for the purpose hereinafter specified.

In the annexed drawing, A represents a wooden bar, having the generalform of onehalf of an elliptic spring, which bar is dividedlongitudinally and horizontally upon a central line, and between thesections thus formed is placed a strip of whalebone, B, that correspondsin width thereto, and has a thickness equal to and refer to likeaboutone-quarter the thickness of said wooden portion A at its ends. Thewooden sections A and whalebone B are first given the desired curvedform and cemented together, so as to insure the relative longitudinalpositions of their contiguous surfaces, after which thebar thus formedis placed upon a steel bar, 0, which corresponds thereto'in width andshape, and is provided upon its ends with sockets c that receive theends ot' said bar. The wood and steel parts A and Care now firmly unitedby means of a wire,D, which is Wound spirally around the same, afterwhich the whole is preferably covered and protected by a rawhide casing,E.

The spring or side bar thus constructed possesses the requisites ofelasticity and toughness, and. will retain its form much longer thanthough composed wholly of wood or metal.

Having thus fully set forth the nature and merits of my invention, whatI claim, is-

The spring-bar, oonsistin g of the wooden sections A and A, centralwhalebone strip B, and steel bottom strip 0, constructed and combined bymeans of the encircling spiral wire D,dsubstantially as and for thepurpose specifie i In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this13th day of December, 1872.

FRANCIS I. FLOWERS.

Witnesses:

JAS. E. AYRES, JAMES H. AYREs.

